调查猎人和垂钓者的需求

伊利诺伊大学与IDFG合作改善爱达荷州野生动物管理

Running into friends during happy hour or at a barbeque can lead to memorable laughs 和 great stories. Running into folks in the woods while bow hunting for deer may not be as welcome.

的 爱达荷州渔猎局 (IDFG) has fielded concerns about crowded forests 和 upl和s from hunters for years. But a partnership between IDFG 和 the University of Idaho, led by human dimensions scientist 肯尼·沃伦，将帮助他们解决这个问题.

我可以直接参与渔猎公司的决策过程, 这样我就能看到我的科学转化为实际的管理.中央广播电台肯尼·沃伦报道 & IDFG

沃伦加入了伊利诺伊大学 自然资源与社会学系 2019年，该职位由大学和IDFG平均分配. 该机构要求沃伦从猎人那里收集数据, 垂钓者和休闲主义者讨论爱达荷州的野生动物管理. 这取决于他要解决的问题, 邻居 may be interested in everything from the type of animals hunted to people’s opinions on what makes the best hunting grounds. Together, he 和 IDFG integrate that information into wildlife management plans.

“我可以直接参与渔猎公司的决策过程, 这样我就能看到我的科学转化为实际的管理,沃伦说.

鱼类和野味的“人员管理”

State 机构 和 universities often work together to address local research questions, but a joint position such as 邻居’s is one of the first of its kind nationally. Despite similar cooperative positions between universities 和 federal 机构, various institutional barriers 和 the lack of a blueprint for how a permanent state agency-university position operates have limited such partnerships.

以满足IDFG的需要, 邻居 combines wildlife biology with the human sciences — psychology, sociology 和 behavioral science — to underst和 what people want from Idaho’s natural resources.

“Natural resources management 和 conservation are human endeavors,沃伦说. “我们真正从事的是‘人员管理’.'”

据乔恩·瑞秋说, IDFG的州野生动物经理，他和沃伦一起工作, the agency traditionally gathered people’s opinions through open houses 和 public meetings 和, 近年来, 通过他们的网站. 该机构针对更大的问题进行有针对性的公众调查, but it’s often hard for the wildlife managers to know whether the opinions expressed are representative of the general public they serve.

“我们的机构通过管理野生动物和渔业为公众服务, 和 most of our managers have specialized in fish or wildlife management. Soliciting 和 interpreting public opinions isn’t necessarily our expertise,” Rachael said. “We’re really excited to have a human dimensions specialist on board to help us get the information from the public we really need to make fish 和 wildlife management decisions.”

邻居说 one of the challenges of “people management” is convincing the public of the need for such measures. He thinks successful management relies on underst和ing 和 predicting human reactions to natural resource availability.

“你不仅仅是令人信服，比如说，猎人. You’re convincing different stakeholder groups including legislators, 机构, 市民团体和地方社区,沃伦说. “You have to underst和 what motivates each group 和 how best to collect data 和 frame findings for who you want to talk about or are talking to.”

例如, deer hunters differ on whether they pursue mule or white-tailed deer, 用弓或步枪打猎, 寻找猎物的肉或战利品，以及它们在哪里捕猎. 的 Clearwater 和 Panh和le are the prime whitetail hunting regions in Idaho. Stakeholders in these regions have different motivations 和 are worried about different issues than the rest of the state. Capturing the differences 和 similarities among stakeholders is essential for management, 邻居说.

鱼和猎物需要快乐的猎人

Although he is based in 莫斯科, 邻居 works on IDFG projects across the state. His largest project with IDFG is investigating hunting conditions for white-tailed deer, 骡鹿和麋鹿, which bring in more revenue 和 hunters than other game species in Idaho. IDFG想知道猎人是否过于集中在这片土地上, 不仅仅是鹿和麋鹿的保护, 但也到了感觉拥挤的地步.

“Different types of hunters have different preconceived notions of what ‘crowded’ means,沃伦说. “Deer hunters near Boise are going to be used to seeing other hunters whereas in the Panh和le, 猎麋鹿和白尾鹿, 尤其是弓箭手, are going to be much more sensitive to seeing even one or two other hunters on the l和scape.”

And if hunters think the presence of too many other hunters is decreasing their success, 他们不会满足于狩猎, 邻居说.

“My job is to help IDFG figure out what information they need 和 don’t need in terms of tracking 和 managing humans on the l和scape,他说.

To address crowding during hunting season, 邻居 will improve data collection on Idaho hunting.

在时间, 沃伦将与爱达荷合作, 蒙大拿州和怀俄明州的管理人员正在制定叉角羚计划, 哪些人在这三个州之间迁移. 的 team will investigate the causes of conflicts between hunters for preferred hunting grounds across the three states. 邻居 will also tackle management plans for steelhead trout 和 salmon by helping to design a citizen advisory group to evaluate management plans to alleviate conflicts between anglers in the Clearwater River drainage.

“我不只是想写论文，”沃伦说. “我希望看到我的作品被使用, 和, 在这个位置, 我真的有机会在爱达荷州有所作为.”

文章由自然资源学院的Elise Kokenge和 利库柏，大学传播与市场营销.

Photos by Melissa Hartley，大学传播与市场营销, 和 from Pixabay.

2020年6月出版.